Bear spray company looking at Butte

By Holly Michels - 03/19/2008

A Bozeman bear spray company has plans to open a distribution center here.

Universal Defense Alternative Products Inc. is asking for a tax abatement for a 4,700-square-foot warehouse it plans to build on land south of Butte at Harrison Avenue near Five Mile Road.

“We’re excited for the warehouse,” Tim Lynch, general manager in Bozeman, said Tuesday. The company sells bear spray to sporting goods stores across the country including several outlets in Butte.

The warehouse would create three to four jobs initially, with one salaried manager position.

Lynch, a Butte native, said UDAP Inc.

selected the Mining City for its location based on the tax abatement program and his hometown connection.

“It just makes sense,” he said. “We are a small company, and anything like that can really help.” UDAP Inc. is asking for a 10-year abatement, which means the company will pay 50 percent of its property taxes for five years. That rate then would increase by 10 percent for each of the next five years.

“We’re not big like The Home Depot or Three Bears (who previously received abatements),” Lynch said. “But we believe we qualify for it.” Lynch also cited a “hard working” workforce and low land prices as reasons the company picked Butte over Whitehall and Boulder.

UDAP Inc. was started 12 years ago by Bozeman resident Mark Matheny, who survived a grizzly attack by using pepper spray to deter the bear.

Bear spray is similar to pepper spray, Lynch said. It is registered by the Environmental Protection Agency and considered a pesticide.

“It is basically a really hot pepper spray,” he said. “It’s the best defense against a bear, more effective than guns.” UDAP Inc. will present its building project and discuss its tax abatement request Wednesday at the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the courthouse, 155 W. Granite St., on the third floor council chambers.

— Reporter Holly Michels may be reached via e-mail at holly.michels@lee.net